The biggest thing that struck me about the
whole weekend spent outside of Chiang Mai was how much more
attention
I seemed to attract just by not being Thai. Not only was the
level of
English markedly lower, but there were many hotel and restaurant
workers who
just stood and stared at me. It was a little unsettling, but I
found it
interesting more than anything else. They were transfixed by me,
because
they hadn't seen many foreigners.

Thailand
is unique for many reasons, but one of them is that it's the
only Southeast Asian country never to have been colonized by a
Western or other outside power. It has always
been
autonomous. As a result, Thai culture tends to be
very insular, and
many Thai people, particularly in the more rural corners such as Mae
Sai, have
had little to no exposure to foreigners. Tourism is the only
contact many of them have had with Westerners. So
outside
of the areas where tourists and their dollars spend lots of time, we're
something of a novelty. They don't know what to make of us.
Should
they be scared? What are we going to do? Even at school
here, the
guy who brings the water into our office in the kindergarten building
had to be
coaxed into coming in while we were there. We ran out of water
one week
because he was scared and/or embarrassed to have any contact with
us. So
one of my jobs as a teacher is to teach this next generation of Thai
children
that the foreign teachers aren't going to do anything more alarming
while
you're bringing them their water than say "Thank You". And then
when they say "Thank You", you say, "You're Welcome".

My kids. I love them.
I have so many
different classes that I haven't been able to get to know the children
individually yet; I'm still trying to remember which classes are
more of a
handful than others. This seems to depend a lot on the teaching
ability
of the Thai homeroom teacher, and also on how much English she
speaks. It
makes a huge difference in how much I can get done in the class.
When it
takes twenty minutes to explain what I want them to do, that only
leaves ten
minutes to do it, and that leads to problems. Especially since
the
kindergarten classes are subscribing to something known as "TBM", or
"Teaching With The Brain In Mind", which emphasizes very strict time
schedules. Quite ironic given the concept of "Thai time", but
that's just another day in Thailand...you
never know exactly what you're going to get. But in theory (and
this,
too, depends on the personality of the Thai teacher), if they're
supposed
to have "Fun With English" with yours truly, Ajarn Amy, from
8:30 to 9:00, and then go and do Hula Hoops at 9:00, they really
need to
be done at 9:00. (Ajarn is the Thai word
for teacher.)

The kids have at least three different uniforms
that they
need to change into, depending on which activity they're
currently engaged in. Hula Hoops and Fun With English
require
different uniforms. All are equally adorable, by the
way. My
favorite is either the little red smock with the center pocket (perfect
for crafts!) or what they change into when they all go to
take their
naps, which look like scrubs for mental patients. Seeing
several
hundred kids all parading through the halls, pillows
and blankets in
tow, on their way to and from naptime, is priceless. They
are just
so cute you can hardly stand it. And, although it'll
probably be a good long time before I learn their names, they all
know
mine. We have huge ramps that go between the various levels of
the building, which is centered around a large open courtyard,
so if
I'm walking to my office from one of the classrooms and the kids are on
their
way down the ramp to the room where they sleep, they can all see
me. This
results in many waves and choruses of "Ajarn Amy! Ajarn Amy!" or
"Good Morning!", depending on how awake they are. It just
doesn't get much better than seeing that many little
faces
smiling at you and so happy just to see you at the same time.

At the moment, I've settled into a routine that is
working
well where I teach the kids a song, and then have them do a craft
that's
somehow related to the song. This allows me to teach them some
English
without teaching them to read and write, which I'm not allowed to do
because
their parents aren't paying enough money. (Don't ask.) By
breaking the
crafts up into steps which I explain and show and then have them
follow, I get
to work with them on following directions and generally get them
interacting a
little more with me on an individual level.It's good for me to gauge where they are, particularly the
shyer
ones who won't sing, and it gives them a little
opportunity to
be one-on-one with me when their friends are busy doing
other
things. And seeing them smile when they understand, or
hearing
them really start to belt out "If You're Happy and You Know
It" with confidence that grows every week, is so rewarding.

I like the repetition of it
combined with the
fact that it gives me a little continuity within the lesson --
song
with related craft -- but with similar steps from week to
week so
that the kids can start to know what to expect. I'd
like to do
a big, overreaching project with "Arky Arky" resulting in
learning new verses each week and having some big Ark thing at
the end, but I haven't
solved that yet. Time to hit the Internet again, I think.